Swedish Embassy launches ‘Seven-Day Challenge’ campaign in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: The ‘Seven-Day Challenge’ campaign – Eat, Move, and Live sustainably was launched on Friday by the Embassy of Sweden in Pakistan, together with WWF-Pakistan to promote eco-friendly lifestyle choices and create awareness about their impact on the environment.

The campaign is challenging as it aims at urging Pakistanis to eat, move and live sustainably for seven days. It will highlight small yet sustainable changes that the individuals can make in their daily routines. As the number of participants grows, the challenge will contribute to greater public awareness about the climate change and reducing individual carbon footprints.

To ensure that the challenge receives much-needed public attention, the climate activists, influencers, and policymakers will participate and actively promote the challenge through their social media platforms such as Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.

H.E. Henrik Persson, Ambassador of Sweden to Pakistan, welcomed the participants and said: “Let’s start a more sustainable and smarter lifestyle together today! It can be as simple as saying no to repeated use of plastic products or using a bicycle whenever you can to reduce your carbon footprint. Please be part of the solutions and the change; make a practical change in your daily lives from now onwards. I see a huge potential for Pakistan and Sweden to collaborate even further in this area, as both the countries aspire to fight climate change and lead the green transition.”

WWF-Pakistan’s Director-General, Hammad Naqi Khan said: “We are witnessing the impact of human activities on the environment, including droughts, heatwaves and floods. As the world embarks on the UN decade for ecosystem restoration, Pakistan is well-positioned to take advantage of a wide window of opportunities. The government, private sector and non-profit organisations are all aligned towards the preservation of natural resources.”

He said: “Despite this, plastics account for 65 percent of the total waste in Pakistan and 36 million tons of food go to waste every year. This campaign with the Embassy of Sweden is an effort to create awareness about this issue and address the missing link, by encouraging the individuals to step up and make eco-friendly choices for a sustainable future.”

Federal Minister for National Food Security and Research Syed Fakhar Imam attended the event as the chief guest. Senator Seemi Ezdi, Chairperson of Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change was also present as a special guest.